Agenda item

We received a report regarding Planning Guidance and Position Statements which intends to establish the position of the Wye Valley AONB Partnership on key issues affecting the area, helping guide the Partnership and relevant planning bodies and decision-making bodies to articulate how the AONB designation should be protected, conserved and enhanced. 

In doing so, the following information was noted:

·         Currently, the AONB Partnership does not have Position Statements. Without them, there can be unnecessary pressure to accommodate unnecessary development.

·         Position Statements provide further context, guidance and recommendations in relation to the specific Wye Valley AONB Management Plan Strategic Objectives and associated issues.

·         The draft ‘Housing in the Wye Valley AONB and its Setting’ Position Statement advises housing development to be based on robust evidence of need arising from within the Protected Landscape. Currently, assessment of housing need and housing requirements are based on local authority boundaries, not the AONB boundary. This could be avoided if ‘housing need’ and ‘housing requirements’ are clearly differentiated.

·         The draft Landscape-led Position Statement advises that development within the Wye Valley AONB and, where relevant, in its setting, should be ‘landscape-led’. Ideally, there should not have to be a binary choice between conserving and enhancing the natural beauty of the Wye Valley AONB and planning for and permitting new development. The aspiration should be to deliver new development in a way that is compatible with and positively contributes to the AONB as a nationally designated protected landscape.

·         The draft Position Statements, if endorsed, will go out to formal consultation before being brought to the Joint Advisory Committee for further consideration and final sign off.

·         It is intended that guidance and associated Position Statements on Renewables and Dark Skies be presented at a future Joint Advisory Committee meeting. The guidance documents will aim to promote good practice and assist those proposing new development in the AONB and its setting.

Having received the report, the following points were noted:

• The Planning Guidance and Position Statements tighten up the planning framework in the AONB.

• A case should be made for equal standing with the Local Plan.

• Recommendation 5.7.7 – ‘at least 50% affordable housing in market housing developments’ – This is in line with other AONBs.

• There was a need to reduce the number of second homes in the AONB.

• This document is in draft form. A formal consultation process with all elected members within the AONB will be undertaken in early August 2023.

We resolved:

(i)    to endorse the ‘Housing in the Wye Valley AONB and its Setting’ Position Statement, and its associated Appendices, as a consultation draft;

(ii)  to endorse the ‘Landscape-led Development’ Position Statement, and its associated Appendices, as a consultation draft;

(iii) to agree that if future amendments are required, as necessary, that these can be made by Wye Valley AONB Unit staff, in consultation with the Wye Valley AONB Manager, unless materially significant, in which case they will be brought to the Joint Advisory Committee for further consideration and final approval;

(iv) to agree a formal review date of both Position Statements to take place every five years unless otherwise amended.